Perfect in her own way
by SilverWolf1500
Summary: My first williot story. Takes place in the book freefall.
1. Chapter 1

Perfect in Her Own Way

(AN- WHHHAAATT! SilverWolf is writing a story that isn't Alpha and Omega based! The sky is falling! No, really, just to all the A&O people out there who happen to read this, if you have never read the book series Tunnels, find a way to do so. I am making this because as soon as Elliot was introduced into the story, I instantly knew there would/could be a connection between her and Will, even though nothing was implied. This story takes place in the third book, Freefall, as Elliot has fallen ill from fever in Martha's little place, then the story goes as follows. Sorry if things aren't all right. I do not own, nor am I affiliated with the authors of the book series Tunnels. Wow, horrible wording, of course I dont own the authors. I don't own the books either.)

Will's POV:

I click my tongue against my teeth as I slide my bishop into a well known check position. "Horrible move" I scold the empty space where there should be a second player. While everyone else is sleeping, I am on 'Elliot Duty', and my shift has only just begun. Three more hours of re-dampening Elliot's fever-reducing wonder flower and criticizing the chess form of someone who doesn't exist. I seriously think the fall closer to the center of the earth caused me to lose some sanity. But of course, every event leading up to it should have anyway. Watching Tam die, shooting Drake, meeting my dying biological mom (proving that this isnt a twisted fantasy, but I was in fact colony-born), and worst, watching Cal's body get lit up with rounds from the limiters. And the command was from my SISTER!

"Sisters" I mutter to myself, still unable to grasp that there is, not only one, but two evil brats wanting to destroy topsoil. "Look at me," I say to myself, which is better than the silence of the pore, and the shallow rasping of Elliot's breath. "I'm becoming more of a colonist each day. Topsoil." I repeat, the word means different things to me now. But I mainly see it as home, and with the twin's Domminion plot, home could just be another hollow phrase if what they say is true, and everything I know will be wiped out.

Grabbing my knight and lifting it to send my imaginary opponent's king to the grave, I hear soft words being muttered from Elliot. I lose all interest I had in the chess game and, almost knocking all the pieces over in the process, and I find myself by Elliot's side in a heartbeat, grasping her uninjured arm. Rubbing my hand up her scarred arm I comfort her as she mumbles illiterate words, almost as if ment to be said urgently. "Shh. Elliot. It's ok. It's me Will, you are safe here." I say, trying to project my voice as smoothly as possible.

Not knowing if I had imagined it or not, I hear her croak "Will-", barely more than a whisper. I get excited, wondering if this is a sign of her healing and eventually becoming the usual, commanding Elliot she was before the tumble down the pore.

I let my hand slide from her arm to her hand, and grasp it gently. "I'm here. It's ok." I gently sooth her, and I can feel her loosen up just slightly. I feel her hand grip mine, which is the greatest thing she has done in terms of realizing there is actually a world still around her. The grip escalates to a firm squeeze, then back to slack. I talk to her some more, but she apparently has slipped back into her unconscious state. Not wanting to let go of her hand I decide to remain by her for the rest of my remaining shift, only to leave to wet her forehead with Martha's prized sickness-busting flora. As of right now, I have not seen any change, if any a change for the worst, in Elliot's health. Her skin tone only gets paler, and she lost some weight. That's why Martha changed her from her usuall renegade gear into more loose and lighter clothes. Staring at the sad image of Elliot, I feel overcome with grief, not wanting to see another person close to me die. By some impulse I lean up and kiss Elliot on her cheek. Almost as soon as my lips touch her skin I reel back. It feels as if she is burning from the inside out. "No.." I say, realizing that something must be done. I sit there holding Elliot's hand and waiting for my shift to be over.

I sit for what seems like hours, which in fact it probably was, untill I see Chester walk in with a sympathetic look on his face. "I got her, you go get some sleep." he says.

I yawn, "Ok." I don't cease to notice the fact that he is instantly by Elliot's side. I sigh and hand Chester the imaginary baton of responsibility, and walk out of Elliot's cabin, although I have no intentions of getting some sleep. Not yet at least. With one solitary object on my mind I rush to the warehouse.

I yank open the door and it responds with, louder than intended, wretched creaking. Frantically digging through mountains of crates I desperately search for it. Without realizing it I start whistling through my teeth, muttering to myself, "It has to be here somewhere."

What I am looking for is a bottle with a clear liquid that, at a first glance, can seem like water. Already scavenged through three I find the small bottle in the fourth crate I look in. Popping off the top I sniff the contents. "Whew! Definitely not water." I say, as the pungent aroma peirces my nose. Turning the bottle around hands, I look for any sign that this is what I am truly looking for. I feel bumpiness in the glass and I pull out my Styx lantern and focus the beam on the letters. Reading them I smile, unable to contain my joy for how perfect this turned out. "Maybe fate wants Elliot alive." I say, leaving out 'for now'. I am too overjoyed on this turnout to be negative.

There is only one factor missing. I thoroughly search every first aid kit I stumble across and eventually find a syringe. Making sure not to disturb anyone inside, especially Martha, I grab the nearby plants from the garden to make Aniseed Fire. Using my water canteen I hold it above the flames and stick the syringe in the now boiling water. 'Wouldn't want Elliot to recover, just for her to get sick from an infection from a dirty syringe, now would you Will' I tell myself. After what seems like forever I conclude the sanitation boiling and pull it out of the water. Taking the bottle, I fill up the syringe all the way with the liquid. "Hope this is enough." I say. Then a haunting thought digs it's way into my mind. 'Hope it isn't too much either'. Conflicted if I should even attempt, I rule that it is worth the risk. "It isn't like she is going to get better herself." I say aloud, reassuring mysalf as I walk to Elliot's shack.

Storming into the room, amused by a surprised and confused Chester, I almost shove him too the side. I hurry and proceed in my risk, not giving Chester the time to ask questions, this is hard enough as it is. Without thinking I swiftly puncture Elliot's arm and squeeze.

"What in the bloody-"

"Shut up Chester, this could save her life." I interrupt. He seems to be quiet after that.

"Do you think it will work?" he asks.

I remove the needle. "Only time can tell. Can you hand me one of those adhesive bandages." I point to a small box in the corner of the room. He hands me one and I peel of the covering. "Hello kitty." I chuckle, looking at the design. "Not something you would expect from a sea-bearing vessel with trained units, right Chester." he forces a small laugh, still clearly concerned on the result of the medicine. I press the bandaid onto the spot of injection. "I feel like I could qualify as a doctor, don't you think?" I turn to Chester.

"As long as I'm not one of your patients." he laughs, and I join in.

"Well, I am going to rest. Keep an eye on Elliot, hopefully she will get better." I stumble out to my room and lay in a heap on the uncomfortable cot. Based on the fact that I am ultra tired, it doesn't matter, and I fall asleep instantly.

I wake up to loud rapping on my cabin door. Rubbing my eyes I get out of bed, pop my neck, and open the door. Chester stands there, obviously excited. "You have got to see Elliot." he says, then without checking if I'm following he takes off in a giant low-gravity leap to land next to Elliot's door. I leap also, but tiredness clouded my judgement and I find myself careening into the wall of Martha's place. I peel myself off and walk the rest of the way.

I stand behind him and he pushes open the door. We are greeted by a loud shriek, for Elliot is topless, and in her hand is her renegade shirt. Chester stands there, apparently too stunned to move, so without thinking I reach across him and pull the door closed, but not before we both receive a furious glare that could kill from Elliot. "That's what you wanted to show me?" I demand, half joking in an attempt to rid of some embarrassment, half furious for being put in that situation. But either way I cannot help my cheeks grow hot and I know my pale skin now has a nice scarlet tone. Chester still stands there and I pull him away from the cabin.

"Explain." I tell him, really wanting to know how he managed to pick the wrong time, or right time, depending how you look at it. I tell myself wrong, but something tells me otherwise. I push that all to the side and press Chester. "Well?"

"I don't know how that happened. She had her eyes open, gazing around the room when I left to get you, I didn't know she was going to be up and about when I came back, and I especially didn't know she was going to be changing." he looks down, suddenly interested in his feet.

"I see." I say, sparing Chester any more uncomfortability by stopping him from saying more. "Now we need to decide what we are going to do in terms of leaving or staying, because I want to continue the search for my dad." I tell him.

"I'm in favor of leaving, and as soon as possible." Chester immediately says. "Martha's company was nice at first, but now it is creepy. She has already been alone here for so long, I think it wouldn't change a bit if we abandoned her. She has everything here."

"I agree. So it's settled then. Elliot is in condition to travel, I'll get anything that can be of use to us, my dad's journal, and you get some aniseed for the trip outta here." I silently slip through Martha's cabin, gathering our stuff and my rifle. Without a noise, which is easier with the low gravity, I meet back up with Chester. "I'll get Elliot." I say. He nods, relief on his face, which I infer that he is glad he doesn't have to face her.

Walking up to her door I knock slowly, hoping she won't bust out and perform some freak karate move on me she learned in the deeps. The door slowly opens and Elliot stands there, eyeing me. I am surprised to realize there isn't much hostility in her brown eyes, they are just searching for truth. If the previous incident had affected her any, she definately doesn't show it. I quietly clear my throat, force all images out of my head, and begin. "We are going sneak out and be on our way. Are you fit for travel?" I shuffle my feet, but I do not break eye contact with her, in a way telling her there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

"Of course" she says softly. she walks to the back of the room and grabs her bag. "Let's go." she says, her face truly unreadable as she slings her rifle on her back.

Walking out of the cabin I motion to Chester, who already has his gun out and is scanning the horizon through the scope, for what I do not know. Successfully catching his attention I point outward and we all start walking, silent, hoping we have just escaped a confrontation with Martha. I flip Drake's eyepiece on and watch as the static dissolves and my surroundings are shown to me in an orange glow. As if I were holding my breath the while time, I exhale deeply as I think we have left a comfortable distance from the house, and because we managed to slip by the spiders without any battle.

Continuing in the same direction for what seems like days, taking water from streams, killing the pore wildlife for food. (See what I did there?) We encounter a large river too big and fast moving to wade across, so we walk alongside it. Surprisingly we spot a bridge to get to the other side. Elliot steps out on it first and I follow close behind. Now I have no idea what actually happened, but as we are almost to the other side Elliot started swaying as if she was extremely dizzy, then pitches headfirst into the murky water. Without thinking, I dive in after her. As the current thrusts me under I realize when it comes to Elliot, I do a lot of things without thinking.

I open my eyes and to my surprise the environment around me is clear as looking trough orange glass. I realize that I am still looking through the eyepiece. "Waterproof, nice touch." is what I would have said if I wasn't under water and fighting for air. Resurfacing I take one large breath then dive under. I spot Elliot with no problem and I swim down to her. Securely grasping her waist I kick with all my might to bring us to the glorious oxygen the water cannot supply to our aching lungs. Our heads bob above the surface and I swim to the shore and set Elliot down. With a jolt I realize that she isn't breathing. "Crap!" I start pumping on her chest, trying to rid her lungs of the water.

Pressing my mouth to her's I push air to her. I repeat the process a few more times until while my mouth is to her's I feel water being coughed up into my mouth and face. Then without warning I am violently flipped over with Elliot's knee painfully crushing my ribcage and her elbow against my neck. "You like taking advantage of helpless girls huh?" she screams. "Thinking I can't do anything while I'm down. You are sick!"

"Its CPR, and I was doing something called mouth to mouth-" I squeak, terrified.

"Oh yeah! Well here's something called knife to throat!" she presses harder on my neck until I cannot breathe, then wields a long knife that was in her boot. I am scared out of my wits, a few tears slide from my eyes, but I still do not struggle. I have a pleading look on my face, and I hear Chester running up to us.

"No! Elliot! He just saved your life." he says, and I feel the pressure relieve, just slightly. "You almost drowned. He had to pump the water out of your lungs."

Elliot gets up off of me and I wheeze, filling my lungs with air. She hesitantly extends a hand to me and helps me up. "I'm sorry Will." she says, clearly ashamed.

"It's ok, I really thought you were going to kill me." I admit, still recovering from the attack. I wipe my eyes and I feel Elliot hugging me. I am caught of guard, but come to my senses when she whispers "Thank you."

"No problem." I rub my neck. "Why don't we rest." I say for all of us. "And dry our clothes off." just directed to me and Elliot. I yank off my shirt and shimmy out of my pants. I open my bag and pull out my extra change of clothes and a small towel. I walk far enough to where I am covered by the darkness and I change out of my britches and dry myself. Then I put all the extras on, and walk back to where Chester sits. Elliot is not around, and I don't check through my lens, well, for obvious reasons.

"That was some quick thinking back there." Chester tells me. "See, in situations like that you react, whereas I freeze. How do you do it?" he asks me.

"I really don't know." I say. "Sometimes thinking about the best way to do something is the worst way to approach it, I guess."

"Spoken like a preacher." Chester smiles. I smile back and push the luminescent orb to the side and try to start a fire. With a few faulty tries some flames spring to life and keep burning. By the time the fire is at a reasonable size Elliot walks up from the darkness, back to wearing the loose clothes from the cabin. Her grown out, our hair is a perfect contrast to mine, because mine is white and hers black. Her bold brown eyes search around, soaking up her situation from every angle.

"Why don't we try our luck and search for something to eat." I say, already picking up my rifle.

"Sure." is the simple response from Elliot. Not much of a speaker, but when she does talk it is about some survival training or how big the explosion is about to be. Yup, that girl is definitely not your usual girl. She is a survivor, who doesn't care about the way her hair looks, or who was dumped over the weekend, or what flicks are new at the cinema. She cares about how to get food, how to find water, and explosives, explosives, and more explosives. I smile and follow her, leaving Chester to sort through our supplies. _

(that was part one of this very long short story ;)) 


	2. Chapter 2

Pihow Part 2

(AN- I finished spiral, and the ending was sweet. Glad Elliot isn't a true Styx, for those who know what I'm talking about. At first I thought that was what the picture on the cover of spiral was. I may write a story about that.)

Will's POV:

With the stealth that ninja's dream to have, Elliot creeps forward. And with my usuall stealth of... a drunk ape with chains strapped to its heels, I follow. But my stealth has been improving, where that was one ofthe only things keeping us alive up at the deeps. It feels weird saying that, because I am still not used to the fact that I am lower than what I previously thought to be the lowest possible. In fact, way lower. And, thanks to the decrease in gravity it doesnt take much to walk quietly anymore. I kinda just bounce, almost in slow motion.

I watch Elliot walk through the darkness with my lens, and I try to keep my eyes from wandering down her spine and the curve of her hips.

I fail.

She is so beautiful, and I want to tell her so bad. The scars mean nothing to me. And if someone were to love a girl who has been through so much, the scars shouldn't make a difference in the least. And I hold myself back so much, that I feel a tear slide from my eye. I make no attempt to wipe it, as I dream about how it would all change if I confessed my feelings to her. But the only way I can see this action going is off the deep end. Of course she doesn't like me like I do her. If anything she likes Chester more than me. Apparently his muscular build gives him the upperhand with her feelings. I hate myself for thinking that, thinking Elliot is as shallow as any other one of the popular girls at home. I know there is something else about Chester that catches Elliot's attention. Something that I do not have. Something that she apparently thinks I will never have.

My face resembles ones who just came back from a funeral of a distant relative that he had never known. The sad, unmoving face but there isn't anything that would cause me to cry. It isn't like there was anything in the first place to cry about. 'Elliot thinks you are boring, get over it' I yell inside my head. Of course, that doesn't help any. No mater who the discouraging words come from, even myself, it will never help anything. I build up on encouragement, but it isn't like I have been receiving any lately.

Throughout all of this inner conflict I am distracted, and a cave spider, this one the size of a normal house's oven, leaps onto my chest. It's legs grab and start to squeeze. I feel the razor-sharp spikes digging into my back and sides, it's face in mine and its pinchers clicking together. "Aaah!" I use all my frustration and convert in into anger at this hairy, abnormally oversized arachnid on me. I manage to reach the gun I dropped, feeling the spikes dig deeper. As my vision blurs I take that rifle and aim for an eye and ram it. As it is in deep I pull the trigger. I shoot it once, twice, four times. I let this sucker have it, five, six, seven, I forget how many times I shoot. It's spikes thrust deeper for one last spasm, then slide out. I kick the beast off of me and feel blood pouring from every place those spiky legs impaled my flesh. Not feeling too hot, I sink to my knees, the dark orange surroundings, and a yelling Elliot, become greyscale and I collapse. Feeling hands pressed to my chest and hearing Elliot's panicked voice, though I cannot understand a word, I am somehow calmed, then I black out, the pain in my sides are unbearable.

My eyes snap awake and I feel every part of my body as if they are on fire. Unable to surpreses a scream I struggle, the points of puncture burning worse than all. My vision is red, and I am not wearing Drake's eyepiece. I see things, things I don't want to see. I feel things, things I never wanted to feel. I panic as spiders swarm over me, their hairy legs slicing up my body. I see them large, small, many different colors ranging from pinks to vibrant greens and everything in between. They grow and shrink, all of them intent on tearing me apart. Their pungent aroma itself is enough to drive terror in my heart. I kick at them, but it doesn't affect them. It feels as if it never even touches them. All of a sudden I cannot move. No longer able to control my limbs I sit there, biting my tongue from the intense pain. 'Why?' The world spins faster than a rollercoaster, and I'm flipping around. I'm slammed against rock like a broken, bleeding rag doll on some twisted iPod app. My head pounds, and the pressure increases until it feels I am being crushed by the weight of the entire world. 'This can't be happening' water fills the room I'm in, spraying into my face. While I drown, being ripped around by a painfully strong current, I see Elliot. She is smiling! How can you possibly be smiling at this? At this I get furious, and I scream her name. But I am underwater, so the liquid fill my lungs, and I pass out.

I wake up a second time, this time there is still pain, but nothing like last time. I move my head as much as it possibly can, which isn't saying much, and look around at my surroundings. I conclude that I have been hallucinating, based on the fact that I'm not ripped to shreds and I'm dry. Either that or I have been resurrected from the grave and surgically repaired to look normal again. I don't feel like I died recently, although I do have this horrible taste in my dry mouth. I look to my left now and see Elliot, sleeping. She is fairly close to me, about to where I can reach out and touch her beautiful face and my arm would still be bent. I go to move my arm to do this, but the searing pain holds me back. I let out a small breath of pain and to my surprise Elliot's eyes snap open.

She scoots unbelievably fast the remaining two feet between us and she sits down leaning over me. "Will." I think I hear her voice quiver. "Can you hear me?"

I feel my focus breaking, my eyes roll around and I find it very hard to spit out words. Words that I want to tell Elliot so bad. But all I can say is. "Yeah.." very weakly.

I start slipping again, and maybe Elliot notices this, but she grabs my hand. At first there is pain where she grabbed me, but then it is just her warmth. The warmth has me questioning, is this a hallucination? Hallucination or not I wan't this to last. But that intruding blackness takes over my vision as my head spins and, although I scream at it to go away. But alas, again I give in to the blackness that I have accustomed to, but will never get used to.

I don't comprehend it fully, but I feel as if I was strapped down, or as if I weighed a few dozen tons. My own self keeping me immobile. Time passes. So much time that I forget myself in the silence. I drift, all the while pressed against the stone floor. What happens around me I cannot say. Nor can I tell you how much time has passed. Sleeping, but not dreaming. This is what that feels like. Although even if i sleep for so long I never stop bein tired. Though as the time passes I feel my arms go numb. So do my legs and my chest. Wow, my head hurts...

I wake up with a quick intake of air, this time feeling much more in touch with reality. If this is reality, I never want to falsely assume, in this situation or in any other.

I sit, no I lay, down on the ground and stare into the darkness over head. There is this large sheet like cloth draped over me. From what i can tell that is the only thing im wearing. I listen for anything I may be able to pick up, footsteps, talking, even breathing. Anything that would serve as a sign that would tell me that I am not alone. I see the luminescent orb perched on a rock about six or seven feet away from me, and I test my ability to get up.

It fails.

I slump back down to the ground and wait. I know Elliot wouldn't abandon me, and if she did, I know Chester wouldn't. Well, I hope Chester wouldn't. He'd probably follow her like a stupid puppy. 'Hey Elliot! Watcha up to? We are gunna ditch Will? Sure I'm up for it! Lets go!'

I can't surpreses a yell as I kick out in the darkness with anger, which makes the puncture wounds sting. I can't believe how childish I am acting right now. Maybe that's why Elliot prefers Chester over me. Dang-it, Will, cut it out! You aren't helping yourself thinking about that stuff. Just bite your tongue and focus on the silence. Let the silence become your thoughts. Think silence. Yes, that sounds nice.

Just then I hear footsteps, but by that time I noticed footsteps in the first place the noise has already ceased, because the being who owned those footsteps crouches next to me.

"Water?" Elliot hands out a canteen to my lips. I nod and sip on the cold liquid. My hands feel like they weigh a ton each, but I lift one up and touch Elliot's arm. Apparently after some effort I realize my vocal abilities aren't of any proper working condition, so I just use my eyes. "Thank you."

She reads them perfectly. "Your welcome." She leans down and hugs me. "Welcome back Will."

Pain washes over me. I force all my effort into bringing my arms up to pat her back, in an effort to get her to stop. She squeezes me tighter and I start to see red. "I thought I'd loose you Will. I was so scared." She shivers. "You didn't stop thrashing. For days you would lash out and scream, then you just stopped."

Elliot relinquishes her hold on me and I breathe a sigh of relief. She sits up and pours out everything that has happened since I was out, and she seems to be enjoying the fact she is doing so. She talks for an hour, and for an hour I listen. This is the most open I have seen Elliot, well, ever. The more she talks the more comfortable I get, and the more tired I get. I don't know why, but being in a coma like state doesn't replenish your energy at all. My limbs start to feel heavy again and I use all that I have to keep my eyes open.

I didn't have much. My eyes close and I fall asleep, this time it comes naturally.

Slowly starting to hear breathing right next to my ear I gradually regain my senses. I look to my left and see absolutely nothing. Nothing but darkness that stretches on for who knows how long. Then I look to my right, and five inches from my face is Elliot's face. She sleeps soundly and I try my best to not make one single sound, because I know how easily she can wake up.

After a few minutes she starts to stir. Her eyes open and she stares into my eyes. "Good morning" is what I wanted to say. What actually came out my mouth was "qudbduxk" I frown and try again. "D'eidjdhs"

"Good morning to you too." Eliot laughs. She gets up and pulls the fabric off of my chest. I am relieved when she doesn't take it all the way off. She addresses my wounds and grabs a shredded up shirt and wraps it around all the wounds. "You over heated." Elliot says, looking to the side, avoiding my gaze. "Had to keep you from burning up." She grabs a pair of my shorts and hands them to me. "Put them on. I've seen enough of you naked." After a short pause I hear her mutter to herself "for now."

My eyes widen, and I feel all funny. Im not really sure if that is what she said, but it sure sounded like it. Great, now Elliot has seen me naked. I guess this makes up for the time Chester proudly presented Elliot's boobs when he opened the door. I shake my head and try to respond. "Blvisozpa" I put my hand over my mouth.

"Can't speak?" Elliot starts toying with me. "Something wrong? You don't want to put on the shorts?"

"Gkducbs!" I glare at her and I quickly stand up, letting the blanket thing fall off and slide on my shorts. Elliot didn't turn away when I did so.

"You know for the next five hours I will do absolutely anything you want me too." She smiles.

I frown. "Dbsovqo"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand you. What do you want me to do?"

"Biysbakkr" I get extremely frustrated.

"Hmm, for a moment there it looked like you wanted me to tell you why you can't talk, but that can't be it now can it." She smiles and steps closer.

Great. Elliot is at a position where she can and probably will do anything to me. "Tyspsna!" I stomp my feet.

Elliot puts a finger on my lips in a shushing manner. "It's alright, I understand. I'll leave you to your own jumbled thoughts." She starts to walk away.

"Mmbdgvs" I grab her shoulder and spin her around.

"You want me to stay?" She acts surprised.

I blow up. "GOD DAMMIT WOMAN!"

Elliot looks at me for a few seconds. "See? That's better. You just need to articulate more." She laughs.

I frown. Whatever she did worked though, no matter how frustratingly annoying it was. "Thanks" I say.

"You're welcome." She smiles.

"This is going to be a long five hours for you." I smile, and her eyes widen.

"You didn't take that seriously?" She says.

"Oh I did, now get me a shirt." I say.

Elliot, being one to keep her word walks over to a bag and throws me a shirt. I put it on, feeling much more covered than before.

"Where is Chester?" I ask.

Elliot looks away. "I don't know. He left when you were thrashing because he couldn't handle seeing you like that, and he has been gone ever since."

"And you didn't go looking for him?" I ask.

"No, because I wanted to stay by you to make sure you didn't die." She says.

"I thought you cared about _big ol' Chester_ more than me." I say his name like it didnt taste good, and I look away from her.

"Why do you think that?" Elliot asks quietly.

"Oh I don't know. You never cared about me! It was never 'hey Will, come help me with this' or 'hey Will, why don't we go in the woods together.' No! It's always you and Chester running off. And you know as well as I do that Chester has the hots for you. Is it because he is more muscular? It is because he is more handsome? Willing to do anything you say?" I say.

"I don't care about Chester more than you." She says softly.

"No.. I would have never known because you spend every waking second with him!" I yell.

"It's because I know that he cannot handle it on his own like you can!" She yells.

"What?" I stop being angry, and start being curious.

"Chester doesn't have what it takes to survive without a crutch. I'm his crutch, or at least was. Now he is gone." She says.

"We need to look for him." I say. I dig in the bag and grab my eyepiece. The static fades and I look around. "Do you know which way he went?"

"No." She tags behind me, something that usually Elliot wouldn't do.

"Lets go left. It is the direction we were walking, so he might have gone that way. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't head back to Martha's place." I grab my bag and start walking.

"Good idea." Elliot says. She looks through the scope of her rifle to see where we are going.

After a long time of walking I set down my bag. "I really need to eat." I say, dizziness sweeping over me. I probably haven't gotten a full meal since the spider attacked me.

"Alright." Elliot sets down her bag and pulls out some fruit.

"Where did you find that?" I ask.

"I found a bush with them. Don't worry, it's safe to eat. I already ate some." She takes a bite of one and hands me another one. "I set down one of your light orbs next to it so we can find it again while we were here." She pauses. "If that's ok with you."

"Yeah, I'll survive." I smile and take a bite.

Elliot scoots closer to me, until our sides our touching. "You really thought I didn't care about you?" She whispers.

"Yes." I say, staring at the endless orange surrounding me.

"Look at me." Elliot turns my face with her hands. I look at her face and it is slightly hurt. "Don't ever say I don't care about you." She takes her hand off my cheek and rubs her arm. "I do."

"W-what do you mean?" I ask. I cannot tell if this is a friendly chat or something more.

"I care about you a lot. More than Chester."

"But, what are you trying to say?" I ask.

"Your so daft Will." She looks in my eyes.

"What?"

"C'mon Will! You can't tell hints when you see them?" She asks.

"Are you saying that you.." I trail off, scared to finish the sentence.

Elliot leans foreward and kisses me lightly on the lips. "Does that answer your question?" She avoids my eyes.

"Pretty much so." I sit there unable to move.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Elliot demands softly. So like her.

After much hesitation, I pull her closer to me. "This." I kiss her on the lips, and we share a small kiss. After we pull away I can see her blushing through my lense. Luckily she can't see me blushing, or maybe she can. I can never tell with this girl.

"We.. we really need to find Chester." I say.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." We stand up and strap on our bags. Elliot grabs my hand as we walk into the darkness in search of our friend, and I smile to myself.


End file.
